nox noctis divum

The firmament, revealing and ancient, stretches boundless.
Each pinprick of light revealing a sight millions of years past.
A quick glance above yields more history than a thousand museums.
Fresh light from the moon absconds photons of antiquity, bathes humanity in purity.

Light predating Alexander and Gilgamesh presents itself faithfully.
An ocular masterpiece, deep and dark, it delightfully suits the retina.
Planets, swiftly tilting in the continuum of spacetime, pay visits, the omens of old.
I want to dance among the stars, to sing their song, to listen to the sounds of the world.

Illinois mayor and other minutiae

I was listening to the Free Beer and Hot Wings Show today when they were interviewing the mayor in Illinois (Robert Butler) who wants the Guantanamo Bay detainees to come to the penitentiary in his town of Marion. At some point during the interview, Butler differented between the inmates already there, and the terrorists by referring to, "Our good American prisoners." That sounded kind of ridiculous to me, considering that the men and women in that prison are rapists, murderers and thieves, but not so bad as to be terrorists. So I sent a quick e-mail to the guys, telling them that it had been my favorite line of the interview. A minute later they read my note and name on the air! Made my day. Inconsequential yes, but wow that felt good.

Oh, and thanks to my good friend Alex I finally started listening to You Look Nice Today for the first time today. Those guys are excellent, hilarious and right up my aisle humortaceously (not a word).

In other news, I'm making good progress with research and will hopefully...finally be in the lab next week tearing hexoses and pentoses from woody mass.

You can not be serious...

Tonight played host to some of the poorest tennis of my life. Three sets of lameness and failsauce, punctuated by a few bright winners (though incidentally, I might have fixed my foot fault tendency and gained a better first serve). Which is funny because last night playing with Quack felt like some of the best tennis I'd played in a long time.

I think if Coach had been there tonight, from double faults alone he would have made me sprint 11 miles then do hurdles, after convincing me to shoot myself in both heels with several arrows. It would have been completely deserved too.

I suppose failure is inevitable though, that's why it sucks. And it likes to sneak up on you and kick you where it hurts most. It is a nice reminder of humanity however (and by nice I mean incredibly unfortunate), and serves to knock us off of our high equinaceous beings (note: equinaceous is not a word, but it can be used in combination with "attila" to get one result from a google search).

But I digress...even failing at something as silly as a friendly game of tennis doesn't feel good for anyone, but we deal with it. Humans are resilient like that. Also, it makes for a good angry run; maybe not 11 miles though. I stuck with my normal 3, but immediately following three sets even that was a challenge.

Ahhh...writing feels good. Even when it's read by none and serves as a memento mori.

The Unknown Soldier

You need not ever know my name
This unknown soldier seeks no fame

I'm here to bring out thought from you
May your heart see more than your view

America, we marched with pride
We gave our life, for you we died

How well we knew the time might come
When life could sound that final drum

Please think of us as life moves on
We tried so hard till that last dawn

Do let our spirit fill the land
Pass treasured freedom, hand to hand

God blessed this country with such love
Hold in your heart, abundance of

And when you stand before my grave
Think not of one, but each who gave

--Roger J. Robicheau

This verse seems particularly poignant today. May God bless those in our military and the principles as well as millions upon millions that they protect. I think especially of Stephen, Justin, Ron, Rob, Cam, Alan, David, Rachel and Darin; they have and deserve the utmost respect from me, from us. Thank you.